I seek a July 4 photo of American freedom for a civilian mass audience of Greece: Part 1 of 4: Breakfast at Abby's
Tuesday, July 5, 2011 at 1:17PM 
I had wanted us to be at Abby's Home Cooking right at 9:00, so that maybe we could be her very first customers. But, when you are a sleepy person on a Fouth of July morning and you and your wife have two little kids to get ready to take with you - well, it just takes longer to get ready than you think it will.
So it was closer to 10 when we pulled in.
As we got out of the car, Kalib suddenly said, "taste of home."
I don't know how he came up with such a thing, but he did.
On the third of July, my friend in Greece who I have met only in a burning place online made a comment wishing all his friends in the USA a happy Fourth. Civi is an amazing guy, full of goodwill to just about everybody, but life has been challenging for him in Greece lately - as it has for his entire nation.
So I told him that on this fourth of July, I would find a picture to take, just for him.
Maybe I would find it during breakfast at Abby's?
We had barely sat down when my nose caught an aroma wafting through the air... and it wasn't home cooking.
It was Jobe. Margie had changed his diaper just before we left the house, but he waited until we all sat at the table to drop the bomb... and it was a smeller!
That's not Pepsi Kalib is drinking for breakfast, by the way - it's apple juice.
We placed our orders - eggs, bacon and hashbrowns for me, biscuits and gravy for the Margie and scrambled eggs, apple juice and toast for the boys and then dashed back to the car and off to the house to pick up a diaper for Jobe.
For some reason, I had imagined us having a nice, peaceful, relaxed, breakfast, but it wasn't working out that way. Neither boy wanted to sit still - they just wanted to jump up, run around, roll around, crawl beneath things and cause chaos.
One kid would take off, I would catch him, sit him back down and then the other one would go.
I had my hands more than full and could hardly touch my camera, but I squeaked this one off.
Paulie Parkhurst, the sister of Abby, came to the rescue. She took both boys from me and led them to a place where a play area had been set up, just for people in our situation. Paulie was very good at this, and Kalib loved her immediately.
Outside the window, Abby gestured to what I believe was a friend or relative, coming to check out the new restaurant on opening day.
It seemed to me that it should have taken Margie maybe eight minutes to get to the house and come back with the diaper, but it felt much longer than that. MUCH longer. But maybe that's all it was - although I do not think so.
In time, she returned and we commenced to eat breakfast.
Margie took charge of feeding Kalib.
I took charge of feeding my little man, Jobe. Everything was now peaceful and calm - for about three minutes. Then those boys were rambunctious again.
When I eat breakfast out, I generally ask to have my toast served after I have finished everything else, so that I can slowly eat and savor it as I sip coffee.
When my toast arrived, Margie took the boys so they could walk towards home. "You can enjoy your toast in peace," she said.
I hated to see them go, but, indeed, I did savor and enjoy my toast in peace.
And I got a little bit of a chance to visit Paulie, Abby and Abby's husband Andy Hammond. The morning of July 4 might seem an odd time to open an out-of-the way restaurant, but they had their reasons.
Abby and Andy first met in Canada, 20 years ago on the Fourth of July.
They got married in Dawson City, Canada, where the Mahoney's have a ranch, one year later - on July 4. At the wedding, they served a pig and a bear leg and then danced on a platform that Andy and Abby had made.
Since that time, the Fourth has been a doubly special day to them, a day of taking on and trying new things.
Hence, they opened their restaurant on the Fourth of July.
"We had a wild time," Paulie remembers.
Given the fact that there was a parade going on in town, and people were out camping and fishing, shooting off crackers and rockets and doing Fourth of July things, there weren't many customers on opening morning.
In fact, most of the time we were there it was just us - which, given the circumstances we faced with our energetic and rambunctious grandsons, that was probably for the best.
But, here is what I have to say - although I did not really get to savor it, the food was good. This is a real, genuine mom-and-pop and brothers and sisters and children and friends of children operation.
I know - down on the Parks Highways where everyday cars pass by by the thousands - this time of year, tens of thousands, I suspect - there are many good restaurants to stop and eat at - everything from sushi superb to some very excellent Mexican cuisine.
And for breakfast, there is IHOP, Mat-Su Valley Family Restaurant and Denali Family Restaurant and maybe somewhere else too and you can get very good, satisfying and filling breakfasts at all these places and they are right on the highway, which is not Main Street but is Wasilla's main drag, and is a very busy place.
But, I urge you, if you are in this area and you are hungry, turn off the Highway at Church Road, drive about 2.5 miles down until you reach the corner of Church and Seldon.
There you will find Abby's Home Cooking.
Give it a try.
Margie and I will be back... I think without the boys next time, unless Jacob and Lavina are here with us.
When I stepped out the door and got into the car to leave, I discovered that Margie and the boys had not gotten far.
So, I stopped and picked them up.
"Want to go see if the parade is still going?" I asked.
I'm pretty sure Civi will enjoy these breakfast pictures - yet I did not yet feel that I had gotten my special picture just for him.
I wanted that picture to speak of America and the idea of freedom, which at times we speak always of how free we are enjoy more than we do at other times. Indeed, I would say that in starting out this little venture, Abby and Andy are acting in the best spirit of the freedom we Americans seek and boast of
Even so, and although I am pretty certain Civi will be impressed by this family and what they have, I still felt that the the special American Fourth of July freedom picture that I wanted to take just for him had not yet appeared before my camera. Maybe I would take it at the parade.
I will post something from the parade within the next hour or so and you can see if I succeeded.
And don't anyone worry - Metro Cafe will always be the coffee shop where I go every afternoon when I am in Wasilla and sometimes mornings too.
Reader Comments (2)
FROSTY...Dear friend...BILL,
don't ever find a photo just for me...nope,no way...
I want you out there...
I want you to keep reporting...
and sending photos ...I want to see Margie,the kids,the cats,the bears...
the Wasilla people...I want to eat breakfast,to drink coffe,to walk with Margie...
I might be far,far away...in broken Greece
BUT
through your vision MR.BILL HESS...I am there ...next to you and your people...
keep reporting and damnit ...DO not find a picture just for me...
cause I love to come back here ...and looking:)))
Wasilla people...VIVA!!!
and FROSTY...easy with the ipad...
it's not waterproof:)))))))))))